Monkey Appetite and Cave Music: TEDx Talks about crossing boundaries

Interdisciplinary studies is an academic field - but it is only useful as it reflects and relates to how professionals in the Real World approach their work: any problem they are trying to solve usually involves several angles, and the more tools you have in your toolbox, the more open you are to drawing on other fields and insights, the more likely you are to be successful.

This first TEDx talk is by a woman who works in cartography, or map making, and who starts out her presentation with the "monkey appetite" - the habit of reaching for everything that looks interesting, or for exploring all kinds of things. This researcher involves many different sciences to advance her research in maps as she gathers and understands data. You kind of have to hang in there when she talks about eye tracking and the brain, but I think even a non-scientist can appreciate the curiosity that drives this speaker’s own research across multiple boundaries.

This next speaker is for the seriously curious: He offers an account of the founding of the interdisciplinary field of acoustic archaeology (yes, sounds and caves!), which combines music, electrical engineering, and archaeology. He emphasizes the importance of collaboration and community-building across disciplines in order to create innovation. The talk introduces the concepts of interdisciplinarity: diversity, community size, dynamic participants, agents of connection, and respect for all fields. I also like the graphics!

That's it for today. One final thought: I particularly like how these two speakers promote curiosity. So often, we are told not to overthink, or to stay within the boundaries of some assignment, or to keep a focus on a specific question - but sometimes the really good stuff, the innovation, the problem solving, come when we push  those boundaries and follow instinct, or serendipity, or just the "monkey appetite."